FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla all won their Saturday games in the Spanish Primera Liga soccer matches.
FC Barcelona won 2-0 away to Malaga in a physical encounter in the La Rosaleda Stadium.
Barcelona was always the better side, but had to wait until the40th minute before Zlatan Ibrahimovich, who had just gone on for the injured Thierry Henry, opened the scoring after breaking the offside trap.
It was the Swede's fifth goal in consecutive matches.
Gerard Pique added a second just before the hour and Barcelona was never in trouble, especially after Malaga's Albert Luque was sent off with five minutes left in the game.
Real Madrid moved back to the top of the table on goal difference following a 3-0 home win over Tenerife.
However, as in other games this season, the result is slightly misleading. Tenerife had as much possession and as many shots as Madrid, but lacked the cutting edge on Madrid's big money signings.
With the score 0-0 at halftime Madrid was booed off the pitch by the supporters in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Karim Benzema opened the scoring two minutes into the second period and added a second before the hour to calm nerves, before Kaka added the final goal of the night with 13 minutes remaining.
Meanwhile Sevilla remains third thanks to a 4-0 win away to Athletic club Bilbao. Renato, Alvaro Negredo, Luis Fabiano and Jesus Navas scored against a home side that never got into gear and which ended with 10 men following the sending off of defender Fernando Amorebieta.
Finally Maxi Rodriguez scored an injury time equalizer to earn Atletico Madrid a point in a thrilling 2-2 draw in Valencia.
Atletico opened the scoring through Kun Aguero, but Valencia turned things around before the break through Pablo Hernandez and David Villa.
It looked as if the home side would hold on for all three points in a game in which both sides missed a host of chances, but Maxi scored in injury time after Valencia was caught on the break.
(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2009)
